BASIC READING/WRITING

BASIC READING/WRITING

Review for Test #1:

READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS

Name: Date:

Overview: In the first half of this semester, you have learned about the following Reading Comprehension Skills:

1. 4 Types of Literature (nonfiction, fiction, poetry, drama)

2. Author’s Purpose (to inform, to entertain, to persuade, to analyze/enlighten)

3. Main Idea & Supporting Details

4. Text Structure (compare/contrast, cause & effect, chronological order)

For the most part, the questions on the exam designed to test your understanding of these concepts will appear in the form of passage-based reading comprehension questions. This worksheet contains examples of these types of questions.

Directions: Read the passages below and answer the questions.

Passage A

Maria Tallchief:

Dancing to Her Inner Music

1 Inspired by childhood memories of tribal dances, Native American Maria Tallchief conquered the great ballet stages of the world. She drew strength from her two worlds, that of her Native-American past and her inner world of music and dance. She became the best-known American dancer and one of the most accomplished prima ballerinas in history.

2 Tallchief was born in 1925 in Fairfax, Oklahoma, on the Osage Indian Reservation. She was then known as Betty Marie Tall Chief. From the time she was old enough to sit at a piano, Tallchief knew that music and dance lived inside her. She also knew she had to find ways to express them.

3 “Those of us born with music, poems, or colors inside always know it right away. I would only have to hear a melody and out it came from the piano keys or in dance,” says Tallchief.

4 As a child, Tallchief went with her grandmother to see the colorful Osage Indian dances performed at tribal ceremonies. The rhythm of the drums and the movement of the dancers stayed with Tallchief and fed her inner music. Tallchief’s mother sensed her talent and encouraged her. Tallchief and her sister Marjorie took piano and dance lessons at very young ages. Unfortunately for Tallchief and her sister, their first dance teacher was not very experienced. The teacher pushed them to do ballet moves they were not ready for physically.

5 Tallchief’s parents decided that to get the best teachers for their daughters they should move away from the reservation to a larger city. In 1933 the Tallchief family moved to Los Angeles, California. There, in Los Angeles, Tallchief studied hard under talented teachers including Madame Nijinska, who was the sister of a very famous Russian dancer named Nijinsky.

6 As her talents for both ballet and piano continued to grow, Tallchief knew she now had to choose between her two great loves.

7 Tallchief concentrated on dancing, continuing to work hard under Madame Nijinska. She performed at the Hollywood Bowl, a huge outdoor theatre. It was a great honor, and Tallchief was very nervous about the performance. During one of her dance moves, she slipped and fell on stage. Embarrassed but not hurt, Tallchief picked herself up and finished the performance.

8 Because of her incredible spirit and great talent, Tallchief was asked to join Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, a professional ballet company, in 1942. It was hard touring around the world as a teenager, and she missed her family. But Tallchief loved dancing for the different audiences.

9 A director told Tallchief she needed a fancier name than “Betty Marie” to be a famous dancer. Tallchief changed her name to Maria but refused to change her last name. She told the director she was proud of her Native-American heritage and her “Tall Chief” family. She did, however, compromise and make “Tall Chief” one word.

10 After a season dancing in Paris, Tallchief joined the New York City Ballet in 1947. The NYC Ballet was new then, but it was becoming one of the most famous in the world. Tallchief became its principal dancer or prima ballerina. Tallchief’s greatest role would come with a production called The Firebird. In the performance, Tallchief soared, leapt, and almost seemed to fly across the stage in a flaming red costume. Many people thought her performance was the perfect blend of her Native-American past and her life as a ballerina. Perhaps the childhood images of her tribe’s dances, paired with the many lessons of Madame Nijinska, inspired her performance. The Firebird made Tallchief known around the world for her talents as a ballerina.

11 In 1956 Tallchief was honored by the Osage tribe for her efforts in promoting a positive image of Native Americans. Since she had represented the world of Native Americans and the world of dance so well, the tribe gave her the name Wa-Xthe-Thomba. The name means “woman of two worlds.” After leaving the dancing world, Tallchief went on to found the Chicago City Ballet in 1979. She served as the Ballet’s director until 1987. In 1999, at nearly 75 years old, Tallchief helped write a children’s book about her life as a prima ballerina.

12 Though she performed on stages around the world, she never forgot her Native-American childhood. She was true to her heritage and always faithful to the music that lived inside her.

Use Passage A to answer questions #1-7.

1. What is most likely the author’s purpose for writing this passage?

A. to analyze the importance of a Native American ballet dancer

B. to entertain the readers with an amusing story

C. to persuade readers to attend ballets

D. to inform readers about a famous Native American

2. Why does the author quote Tallchief in paragraph 3?

A. for the reader to hear how Tallchief spoke

B. to support the claim that music and dance lived inside Tallchief

C. because she couldn’t think of anything else to say

D. because otherwise the reader might not believe her

3. According to the passage, why did Tallchief’s parents decide to move away from the Indian reservations?

A. because they wanted Tallchief and her sister to take piano lessons at a very early age

B. because her first dance teacher was not very experienced

C. because her first dance teacher pushed her to do moves she was not ready for

D. because her parents knew that the best teachers were in the larger city

4. What is the main idea of paragraph 10?

A. Tallchief’s experience with the NYC ballet

B. The increasing notoriety of Tallchief and the NYC ballet

C. Tallchief’s role in The Firebird

D. The childhood images that inspired Tallchief’s performance

5. The structure of this text is best described as

A. compare/contrast.

B. cause & effect.

C. chronological order.

D. interview.

6. Which of the following events happens last?

A. Tallchief knew that music and dance lived

inside her.

B. Tallchief changed her name.

C. Tallchief and her family moved away from the

Indian reservation.

D. Tallchief starred in The Firebird.

7. This passage would most likely appear in

A. an encyclopedia.

B. an autobiography.

C. a collection of short biographies of famous Native

Americans.

D. a work of fiction.

Passage B

How the Mosquitoes Left Kambara

A Tale From Fiji

By Pleasant DeSpain

1 Once long ago, a small island in the Pacific called Kambara was infested with mosquitoes. The island people were constantly at war with the pesky insects and grew weary of being bitten, especially at night. All day long the women of the tribe pounded tree bark into fine-mesh screens to keep the mosquitoes out.

2 Now it happened that a prince from the island of Oneata sailed throughout the South Pacific in search of treasures for his people. He landed on Kambara, and the chief welcomed him as an honored guest. After a great feast, the prince was shown to a sleeping room. It was surrounded with beautifully painted mosquito screens.

3 “Tell me, O Chief of Kambara,” said the prince, “why do you hang such wonderful cloth all about the room?”

4 “For the mosquitoes,” replied the chief.

5 “Mosquitoes? What are mosquitoes?” asked the prince.

6 “Our little . . . friends of the night. They are small flying insects that . . . sing us to sleep each night,” said the chief. He was

too embarrassed to tell the truth.

7 “How nice,” said the prince. “We have nothing like mosquitoes on Oneata.”

8 “Too bad,” said the chief. “We have more than we need.”

9 The prince yawned, and just as he began to fall asleep, the night air filled with the hum and buzz of thousands of hungry mosquitoes flying outside the curtain. “Such a soothing sound,” he muttered. “A rare treasure, indeed.”

10 The next morning the prince asked the chief if he could take some mosquitoes back to Oneata with him.

11 “You would have to take all of them,” replied the chief, “since they are a close-knit family and couldn’t stand to be

separated.”

12 “But what about your people?” asked the worried prince. “Wouldn’t they be unhappy if I took all of your lovely

mosquitoes?”

13 “Yes, they would,” replied the chief, “but if you were to give us something in return, I think they would be satisfied.”

14 “I have a special conch shell in my canoe,” said the eager prince. “You blow it like a trumpet and the fish swim to shore and let themselves be caught. Your people will never grow hungry!”

15 “It’s a bargain,” said the chief of Kambara happily. “Our mosquitoes for your special shell!”

16 The people of Kambara set a trap for the mosquitoes, using a huge basket so tightly woven that even the smallest of the insects couldn’t get out. They placed a freshly killed pig in the basket, and the chief waited behind a nearby tree with the lid.

17 The sun began to set and the mosquitoes came out in droves in search of victims. Some of the pests found the pig, and it wasn’t long before every mosquito on the island was in the basket enjoying the feast. The chief jumped out from behind the tree, popped the lid on the basket, and tied it securely with long vines.

18 With the basket in his canoe, the prince sailed back to Oneata. He thought of how happy his people would be with the restful sounds of the mosquitoes.

19 The chief of Kambara was also happy. He blew on the conch shell and the islanders began gathering in the fish for a celebration feast!

by permission of August House Publishers, Inc.

Use Passage B to answer questions 8-15.

8. The structure of this passage is BEST described as

A. a comparison of methods used by island people to ward off mosquitoes.

B. the causes and effects of a prince’s journey to Kambara.

C. the chronological history of mosquitoes in the South Pacific islands.

D. a contrasting of differences between the islands of Kambara and Oneata.

9. What is the main idea of paragraph 1?

A. the island’s mosquito infestation

B. the island people’s war with mosquitoes

C. the island people’s weariness

D. why the women on the island made fine-mesh screens

10. How did the island people lure the mosquitoes into their trap?

A. by waving curtains near a tree

B. by painting screens on the doors

C. by placing a pig in a basket

D. by pounding bark on a tree

11. What might the prince do after he realizes the mosquitoes are a nuisance?

A. catch more mosquitoes

B. find a new special shell

C. welcome island guests

D. return them to Kambara

12. This passage MOST likely could be found in a collection of

A. documentaries.

B. poems.

C. speeches.

D. myths.

13. What type of literature is this passage?

A. nonfiction

B. fiction

C. poetry

D. drama

14. The author’s purpose for writing this passage is

A. to entertain the reader with a made-up story about how mosquitoes left Kambara

B. to teach the facts about how mosquitoes left Kambara

C. to persuade the reader that the prince was unintelligent

D. to inform the reade about the history of two South Pacific islands

15. Which of the following details does NOT support the fact that the prince was oblivious to the fact that the mosquitoes’ were a nuisance to the island people?

A. The prince has never heard of mosquitoes.

B. The prince mutters, “Such a treasure, indeed,” as he falls asleep to the humming of mosquitoes.

C. The prince asks the chief if he could take some of the mosquitoes back with him.

D. The prince dreams how happy his people will be falling asleep to the restful humming of the mosquitoes.

Passage C

The Senate and the House of Representatives

1 The government of the United States is made up of three branches: the legislative branch, the executive branch and the judicial branch. The legislative branch, called Congress, is responsible for making laws. Congress is made up of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. In this essay, you will learn the differences and similarities between these two houses of Congress.

2 There are many differences between the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Vice President of the United States is the head of the Senate. He must vote in the Senate if there is a tie. On the other hand, the House of Representatives’ leader is called the Speaker of the House. The representatives elect him or her.

3 Another difference is that the Senate is made up of 100 senators, two from each state. The House of Representatives, however, is made up of 435 representatives. The number of representatives from each state is determined by that state’s population. The greater the population in a state, the more representatives that state will have in the House. A third difference is that senators are elected to six-year terms, while representatives are elected to serve two-year terms. Every two years, the nation holds an election for members of Congress. At that time, all members of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are up for re-election.

4 There are also similarities between the Senate and the House of Representatives. For example, both houses of Congress are made up of men and women. Both senators and representatives are members of Congress who must work together toward the same goal: to create, discuss, debate and vote on bills, some of which eventually become laws. In the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C., senators and representatives often meet with each other and in smaller groups to discuss laws. Before the President can sign a bill into law, it must first be approved by a majority of members in both the House and Senate.

5 Although Congress is made up of two types of lawmakers, they must work together for the benefit of all Americans.

Use Passage C to answer questions #16-19.

16. The author’s purpose for writing this passage is

A. to inform the reader about Congress

B. to persuade the reader to favor the Senate over the House of Representatives

C. to entertain the reader with a story about Congress

D. to analyze some of the similarities and differences between the Senate and House of Representatives

17. Which of the following best describes the structure of this passage?

A. compare/contrast

B. cause & effect

C. chronological order

D. copyrighted

18. This passage is a work of

A. nonfiction.

B. fiction.

C. poetry.

D. drama.

19. In which one of the following ways is the Senate different from the House of Representatives?

A. The Vice President is in charge of the House, and the Speaker is in charge of the Senate.

B. The House of Representatives has less members than the Senate.

C. Senators are elected to 6-year terms, while Representatives serve for two years at a time.

D. The Senate is only for men, while the House of Representatives contains both women and men.

Passage D

Lily Owens, 14, is learning about bees and honey from her new friend, beekeeper August Boatright, and her assistant Zach.

1 On our first Friday evening there, after prayers were finished and orange and pink swirls still hung in the sky from sunset, I went with August to the bee yard.

2 I hadn’t been out to the hives before, so to start off she gave me a lesson in what she called “bee yard etiquette.” She reminded me that the world was really one big bee yard, and the same rules worked fine in both places: Don’t be afraid, as no life-loving bee wants to sting you. Still, don’t be an idiot; wear long sleeves and long pants. Don’t swat. Don’t even think about swatting. If you feel angry, whistle. Anger agitates, while whistling melts a bee’s temper. Act like you know what you’re doing, even if you don’t. Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved.

3 August had been stung so many times she had immunity. They barely hurt her. In fact, she said, stings helped her arthritis, but since I didn’t have arthritis, I should cover up. She made me put on one of her long-sleeved white shirts, then placed one of the white helmets on my head and adjusted the netting.

4 If this was a man’s world a veil took the rough beard right off it. Everything appeared softer, nicer. When I walked behind August in my bee veil, I felt like a moon floating behind a night cloud.

5 She kept 48 hives strewn through the woods around the pink house, and another 280 were parceled out on various farms, in river yards and upland swamps. The farmers loved her bees, thanks to all the pollinating they did, how they made the watermelons redder and the cucumbers bigger. They would have welcomed her bees for free, but August paid every one of them with five gallons of honey.

6 She was constantly checking on her hives, driving her old flat-bed truck from one end of the county to the other. The “honey wagon” was what she called it. Bee patrol was what she did in it.

7 I watched her load the red wagon, the one I’d seen in the backyard, with brood frames, those little slats that slip down in the hives for the bees to deposit honey on.

8 “We have to make sure the queen has plenty of room to lay her eggs, or else we’ll get a swarm,” she said.

9 “What does that mean, a swarm?”

10 “Well, if you have a queen and a group of independent-minded bees that split off from the rest of the hive and look for another place to live, then you’ve got a swarm. They usually cluster on a limb somewhere.”

11 It was clear she didn’t like swarms.

12 “So,” she said, getting down to business, “what we have to do is take out the frames filled with honey and put in empty ones.” August pulled the wagon while I walked behind it carrying the smoker stuffed with pine straw and tobacco leaves. Zach had placed a brick on top of each hive telling August what to do. If the brick was at the front, it meant the colony had nearly filled the combs and needed another super. If the brick was at the back, there were problems like wax moths or ailing queens. Turned on its side, the brick announced a happy bee family.

13 August struck a match and lit the grass in the smoker. I watched her face flare with light, then recede into the dimness. She waved the bucket, sending smoke into the hive. The smoke, she said, worked better than a sedative.

14 Still, when August removed the lids, the bees poured out in thick black ropes, breaking into strands, a flurry of tiny wings moving around our faces. The air rained bees, and I sent them love, just like August said.

15 She pulled out a brood frame, a canvas of whirling blacks and grays, with rubbings of silver. “There she is, Lily, see her?” said August. “That’s the queen, the large one.”

16 I made a curtsy like people do for the queen of England, which made August laugh.

Use Passage D to answer questions #20-

20. This passage is primarily about

A. Lily’s crush on the beekeeper’s assistant.

B. the beehives August looked after.

C. how to prevent getting stung by a bee.

D. a young girl’s first visit to the bee yard.

21. Where did this passage come from?

A. an encyclopedia

B. a novel

C. Lily’s diary

D. a science textbook

22. This passage is an example of

A. fiction.

B. nonfiction.

C. poetry.

D. drama.

23. Who is the narrator of this passage?

A. Lily Owens

B. August Boatright

C. Zach

D. Sue Monk Kidd.

24. Who is the author of this passage?

A. Lily Owens

B. August Boatright

C. Zach

D. Sue Monk Kidd

25. What is the primary purpose of this passage?

A. to inform you about bees and honey

B. to entertain you with the story about a girl’s first visit to the bee yard

C. to persuade you to become a beekeeper

D. to analyze the life of bees